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The Golden State Warriors probably need to make a deal in the next month to manufacture a chance at contention in the Western Conference, and they could do a lot worse than acquiring a recent NBA champion out of the East.
Dan Favale of Bleacher Report on Thursday, January 1 named Boston Celtics combo guard Derrick White as a top-three trade target of Golden State ahead of the February 5 deadline.
“Derrick White would arm the Warriors with a world-class perimeter defender who can ferry some ball-handling responsibilities and won’t shrink the floor,” Favale wrote. “Even if they’re worried about the back end of his deal, which runs through his age-34 season, he’s kitchen-sink material for any franchise operating on the Stephen Curry timeline.”
Derrick White Posting Career Year for Celtics in 2025-26
GettyBoston Celtics guard Derrick White.
White is on a $118 million contract that runs through 2028-29 and includes a player option on the final year.
He is a two-time All-NBA defender (second-team in 2022-23 and 2023-24) and has also finished inside the top 10 in Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past two seasons.
White has averaged north of 15 points per game in each of the last three campaigns and is posting a career high of 18.3 points per night this season. White’s scoring numbers are up due to Jayson Tatum’s absence because of an Achilles tear, which has resulted in more of the offensive burden falling to White and teammate Jaylen Brown.
White is also producing 5.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.4 steals across 32 appearances (32 starts) this season. He has missed just one game, helping lead Boston to a 21-12 record and the No. 3 seed as of Friday night in a wide open Eastern Conference.
Warriors Would Have to Pay Significant Price to Celtics in Derrick White Trade
GettyBrandin Podziemski of the Golden State Warriors.
White’s performance this season, and Boston’s unlikely push into the top three in the East nearly halfway through the campaign, combine to beg the question of why Boston would part with White given his/their circumstances.
The short answer is they probably won’t, particularly given the personality of head coach Joe Mazzulla and the widespread knowledge that he never intended for 2025-26 to serve as a gap year for the team — even despite Tatum’s injury and the front office’s decisions to move on from championship starters Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, not to mention other quality role players, in an effort to get under the tax threshold.
But Mazzulla does not get to decide if White stays or goes, and Boston would be selling at perhaps an all-time high if the team chose to move on from White in the coming weeks. The Warriors profile as a franchise poised to make an aggressive offer, and they have up to four first-round picks (plus several first-round pick swaps) to use in any deal.
New league rules and the onerous nature of the first- and second-apron clauses of the current salary cap structure may drive down trade returns across the league this season and moving forward.
Thus, the Celtics probably can’t expect the kind of outlandish package the Brooklyn Nets got from the New York Knicks in the Mikal Bridges deal, just to cite one example (five first-rounders, including four unprotected, and then some).
But a couple first-round picks, a swap or two and a promising young perimeter player like Brandin Podziemski or Moses Moody to round out the money, along with an expiring contract, might be a reasonable place for Boston to start negotiations and attempt to build from there.